Not for the Sensitive or Unhealthy

Living here has been a difficult experience for a sensitive person. This week we saw our guard's family break up and it tore at my heart. In fact during our time here we have found ourselves accompanying people through heart break after heart break. Loss of husband, loss of child, loss of home, loss of church, loss of stuff. Through it all we get the real sense that Evil is relentlessly attacking people here. I often wonder how much more my heart can stand. This is where I am broken and return to my knees in need of God's power and love. It seems like dealing with so much evil is common enough here that sensitive people are hardened. For death and loss there is a pause, but then life continues because it is very common. Pray that we do continue to see the person and our hearts are not hardened to empathizing and caring.

It’s also a huge adjustment to get used to always answering that things are well and getting better no matter what troubles might be going on in life. In this culture people do not admit anything other than being healthy and happy. I’m not giving a literal translation of the words in the greetings, but an idea of what we are communicating could be translated as: “Hi, how are you? I am in the best of health. How did you sleep last night? I am great. How’s your tiredness? I’m not tired. How is your family? They are in the best of health. How is the heat? Oh, it’s that time of year.” So this gives you a sample of the greetings and the answers are always this way or there is one option to make things even better and be in the 'bestest' of health! Through a husband's death, children's death, through a marriage ending, and even in the midst of this terrible pain the answer was always the same.

Smile On was bold enough to hold hands with this boy
but not so sure if he's feeling "in the best of health" about it!

Then if you know that someone has been sick another greeting is, “How is your body?” The answer no matter what is, “It is improving”. One could be on their death bed and the appropriate cultural answer is, “It is improving.” For example during some of El Padre's illnesses many people visited daily and asked how he is. I would kind of screw up my face and say, “He is improving.” Even when I know this is completely wishful thinking. It has come to be that one local friend will ask us, “Are you answering that he is feeling better like a local (i.e. he really isn't better) or like a European (i.e. he really is improving)?"